Why are we still asking you to call Congress?

Calling Congress doesn’t seem glamorous to some folks and people have asked us why we keep asking people over and over again to call their member of Congress. Is this doing us any good? Why should people keep doing it? These are very legitimate questions.

Here’s the answer from our perspective: calling Congress matters and it has been doing an incredible amount of good. Your calls—and the calls of thousands and thousands of people like you—are the reason we have the votes we have for ENDA. Because LGBT people and our allies have made it clear to members of Congress that we need the protections that ENDA will offer, we are now on the brink of passing this bill. We cannot stop at this critical juncture.

Do they actually pay attention to the messages we leave? Staffers on Capitol Hill say that they absolutely pay attention to the calls and e-mails for and against ENDA. Especially since this is the first time we are really holding our own with the religious right—we are finally matching their calls in many districts and in some places surpassing them. This really matters.

Calling and e-mailing your member of Congress definitely should not be—and is not—the only strategy for passing this bill. Work is being done on all fronts, from direct actions to visits to Capitol Hill, and your calls and e-mails are one important part of that strategy. There are many other things you can do as well. Check out the endaNOW website or go to our ENDA page to find out what folks are doing and get ideas about how you can join in. But on the way, take a couple of minutes and make that call again …